I heart puppies

Alright so basically I suck at blogging. On last Sunday, Sydney and I decided that we were going to go home from church early. We walked all the way home and then realized that neither of us had a key. Karma. 

Then later in the week my painting class ended. I didn't take a picture of my finished painting, but here it is as a work in progress. 

On Monday I got into my first car accident. It was totally my fault - I rear ended a guy at a stoplight because I didn't stop soon enough. It was super minor though! It's kind of hard to tell but my front license plate is a little bent. 

Ok so now comes the best day of my life. PUPPIES ON THE MALL! It was two dollars to cuddle with them and I would have easily paid more. 

Super super super cute. 

Taylor and I like to park our cars next to each other and wear matching clothes. 

Syd goes by the name of Alfalfa now. 

Who wore it best?

Friday was the scariest night of my life. We went to a haunted corn maze and I cried so hard. I was sore and exhausted after going through it but it was exhilarating. Totally worth the $20.

Saturday was a game day so the Richardsons came to town! Easily the best kind of weekend days ever. 

We went to Reid Park and I enjoyed this thing. I don't think it's written in English. 

Then I FaceTimed my mother! Of course Avery got in on the action. 

At the football game I braided Sawyer's hair. It was pretty rockin'

And that brings me to today, where at work, I created this beautiful masterpiece. It is Isaac and I's faces put together. 

I almost forgot! I got a job working at the Gap as a Sales Associate. I start my first full day tomorrow, so far I have just been doing training and working with a manager checking in on me periodically. So far it has been super fun and I am so excited to actually start on my own! Wish me luck. 

Yo, VIP. Let's kick it.

Holy weekend you guys. It was cray. Friday was the day of EJ's birthday party!!! When we got to dollar lunch, we found out that EJ wasn't staying but that's ok because we made a new friend Jaxon! He was visiting for the weekend and basically became our best friend for the weekend. He was such a ball of life and made everything about ten times more fun! After dollar lunch, Lauren, Syd and I took Jaxon to Walmart and Target to run errands and buy decorations and drinks for EJ's party. With all the fun we were having, that took a surprising amount of time. When we got home, it was crunch time. There was so much to do!! We've been piling up cardboard boxes in our backyard so we took all of those to the dumpster. We also had to do some major dishes and cleaning of our living room, complete with moving a majority of the furniture upstairs/outside so there was ample room for dancing. While my roommates were helping clean, I made 93 mini cupcakes for the party. They were so tiny! But delicious. Then the REAL party began...and lemme tell you - it was one for the books. Definitely up there with EJ's party last year. Personally, I liked the venue this year more, but I'm a little biased.

Ok so the party started with some mingling while we waited for it to fill up, then we played everyone's favorite games - the Newlywed game and the Question game. During the Newlywed game, half of us had to go outside so Lauren and I decided to go outside on the roof. She's crazy. 

Then we got into the dancing. Some of us got into it more than others....Here I am featuring the classic Syd dance move. It basically goes with every song. Ever. 

Clark bought EJ a Benny wig (one of the four members of ABBA) and we had a good time playing with it the rest of the night. I would say EJ looks like a natural Swede. 

In addition to dancing, we also did karaoke. As you can see, getting down was a theme of the night for me. What can I say? 

Those balloons symbolize that we are PARTY ANIMALS. 

The birthday boy getting cray

We even strung up lights in our backyard for people to go out and get some fresh air! Ammon and I got excited about the lights. 

Here are two of the 93 cupcakes - the ones which EJ got to blow out. Even though he only got to blow out one candle because I accidentally blew one out before he got the chance. 

Ok so I think I've made it pretty obvious, but for those of you who don't know, I love Annabeth. She is absolutely insane and I love people who are outgoing and don't care what others think. She was such a joy to have at the party, just as she is a joy to have in our home all of the time!

Here is my husband (from FHE) Will and I during the Question game. 

And Lauren! She's so awesome and always willing to help out. 

These Richardson siblings really know what's up when it comes to the ancient Japanese art of karaoke. 

I think Annabeth and I are finally getting close to knowing how to twerk. Maybe we should practice more before we debut our moves in public. 

Watch out for this Canadian Dynamic Duo. 

Syd was basically a celebrity when it came to karaoke. 

Here are EJ and Andrew just hangin'

Syd is just the cutest. 

Rawr. No other words necessary. 

Here are Andrew and Jaxon singing to each other. It was the highlight of my night. 

EJ was the karaoke king. Look at him. Such a natural!!!

On Saturday we went to a YSA Activity that featured a missionary themed devotional and food and some awesome sports activities. And on Sunday we had church and then took engagement photos of Taylor and Natalie. It rocked. K peace

Conference weekend!!

 Ok so on Wednesday I got a flu shot - which was both exciting and bad. Exciting because I love getting flu shots - I've gotten one every year and never had the flu. So I'll continue to follow that pattern. Bad because my arm was sore for about two days. Yuck!

When I got home on Wednesday afternoon, LOOK WHAT WAS IN THE MAIL! Our 4 free meals coupon from Chipotle. Best piece of mail ever. 

I took this photo of my car and Taylor's car being friends in the Institute parking lot <3

On Thursday when I went to work they were handing out free quesadillas!! Bonus. Super cool. 

And here is a picture of me eating my free burrito a couple of hours later. Not only was it an exciting day of free food, but it also showed me that I really like to take selfies (especially those where I'm eating food)

After Chipotle we had our friends Ashley and Amanda over to watch/sing-along to Mamma Mia. Needless to say, it was awesome. 

Alright so I didn't take any pictures on Friday but....Sydney and I drove to Casa Grande and picked up McKenzie so she could hang out with us for the night! We then went to Taco Bell, and when we got home, we painted Honey Boo Boo quotes. The usual. Mine was "I wish I had an extra finger so I could grab more cheeseballs". A classic really. EJ came over for a little bit, as did Taylor and Natalie. Friday was pretty cool but Saturday was MUCH cooler. It began with General Conference. Saturday morning session was easily my favorite. Conference is always so nice - who wouldn't want to listen to inspired messages and words from prophets while sitting in your PJ's? After the first session, we went to lunch with all of the churchy folk and the missionaries. Here are Sister Eyre and Sister Hendricks being cuties as always. 

They are seriously so cool. Sydney and I wish that we could find other girls here in Tucson that are as cool as them. Also, we have different favorites so it works out perfectly. 

A bench full of Richardsons....what a dream come true. 

Poker face to celebrate (because what else would I do?)

Anddddd Elder Wasden. 

Sister Hendricks again.

Ok so after lunch we mosied on over to Target, but then discovered that the new Walmart was open so we opted for that instead. Upon entering, we found Sydney's own personal heaven. It was an entire wall of Mountain Dew!!

After Walmart, we were trying to decide where to go and McKenzie suggested we go thrift shopping, so I drove on over to Buffalo Exchange. When we got there we discovered the greatest thing in the world! They were having a dollar sale. The following are a few photos of the madness that incurred. There were dozens of boxes overflowing with clothes that everyone was rooting through and trying to find the perfect item. Everything was a dollar after all!!!

We then took a trip up Mt. Lemmon and I took yet another selfie. It was awesome.

After Mt. Lemmon we went to In N Out and then drove back to Casa Grande to drop off McKenzie. Avery just wanted to play though. That's ok because it created a bunch of cute pictures. 

Basically Conference weekend is the best thing ever. I didn't watch all of the Saturday afternoon session yet, but starting my day with a 2 hour Conference filled with inspiration and comfort just makes the rest of the day go by so much better. My favorite talks would have to be President Uchtdorf's from Saturday morning, and Elder Holland's from Saturday afternoon. President Uchtdorf spoke about how we should accept others and that diversity within the Church is a good thing. I think this is something that really needs to be emphasized within the Church, and it really got me excited that he addressed it. It was such a curveball since it's not really a topic that is spoken about often. Since we are a Church that is based on agency, we need to respect the fact that others have agency to practice other religions, no religions, to leave our faith, or simply to do whatever they want. We don't always know what situations people are going through in life, so we shouldn't judge them for making decisions that differ from our own. We have to have faith in the fact that our church is founded on God's teachings and words, and that He "will not allow His church to drift from its appointed course or fail in its divine destiny". President Uchtdorf is always awesome to listen to. His accent is awesome, that's a given. But he also has a way of simplifying things and making his points very concise so that they are easy to remember. 

Saturday morning was also awesome because there was a lot said about Africa, and it made me really want to go back to Johannesburg and visit the church sites there, as well as the old places I used to go as a child. Elder Ulisses Soares gave a talk about a Brother from Johannesburg who attended church every week for years from the outside of the building, since they would not allow him inside due to his color. Despite this fact, he religiously attended every church meeting until he was later allowed inside and helped to start up the branch in Soweto. I got so excited about this story, not only because of this Brother's intense desire to be a part of His Gospel, but because hearing it made me feel like I was home. There is comfort in hearing of places you've grown up in. 

Elder Holland's talk on Saturday afternoon got a lot of people buzzing. His talks always do so, but I liked this one especially. He talked to those who are suffering from mental illnesses and those around them, particularly those afflicted by depression. This is such an important topic that we often ignore or think that everyone who has accepted Christ is automatically happy. But it doesn't work that way. Having Christ in your life is not going to fix the chemical imbalance in your brain that causes depression, in the same way that being a member of the Church won't prevent you from getting cancer, or won't cure someone from diabetes. Erasing the stigma about mental illnesses is a movement that is near and dear to my heart, and I will stand up for it forever. My favorite quote from Elder Holland's talk was "We are infinitely more than our limitations or our afflictions". People aren't defined by a disability or disorder that they have. There is so much more to a person than that, and it's about time people realized that. 

The following are some graphics with quotes that I enjoyed from the weekend. Enjoy! If you would like to read or watch any of the talks from this weekend, you can visit LDS.org